This is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 217,657, filed July 12, 1988, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,528, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 346,565, filed May 1, 1989, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,147, of which are owned by the assignee of the present invention.
The foregoing patent applications disclose dividing and rounding machines, which incorporate a divider head assembly which is generally of the type disclosed herein. The present invention represents an improvement in divider head assembly construction, which improvement may be utilized in the machines of the foregoing disclosure, and the prior patent applications are incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to machines for handling and processing materials such as bread dough, cookie dough, and other similar food products for human consumption. The invention is also usable in related fields wherein materials of a consistency similar to dough are used, particularly in connection with a process wherein materials must be subdivided from bulk quantities.
Examples of dough-dividing machines which are disclosed in the earlier prior art may be found with reference to U.S. Pat. No. 1,177,835, issued April 14, 1916; U.S. Pat. No. 1,764,586, issued June 17, 1930; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,158,594, issued May 16, 1939. The general structure and operation disclosed in these prior art patents is still found in use today in machines of generally similar design.
Dough-dividing machines of the prior art, and particularly the divider head assemblies utilized in such machines, suffer from disadvantages relating to the ease of disassembly for purposes of cleaning the machine and its component parts. A typical and common problem with prior art machines is that partial disassembly of the machine for purposes of removing the divider assembly for cleaning is either impossible or extremely difficult, with the result that cleaning of divider head assemblies on prior art machines is usually accomplished while the divider head assembly is mounted on the machine. The machines wherein the divider head assembly may be removed for cleaning, the head assembly itself contains many uneven surfaces and recesses, the cleaning of which is very difficult, and it is therefore not uncommon for dough residue to remain on parts of the divider head assembly for long periods of time. This creates an unhealthy and unsafe environment which promotes the growth of bacteria.
The present invention is an improvement over the prior art divider head assemblies, primarily in its ability to be readily removed from the dividing and rounding machine, and also in its ability to be easily and further disassembled for cleaning. The component construction of the present invention enables a thorough cleaning of all component surfaces, because the existence of irregular surfaces and recesses has been minimized or eliminated.